Haiti score late equalizer to draw Panama in Gold Cup opener
FRISCO, Texas --
Panama enters this CONCACAF Gold Cup with dreams of returning to the final for the second consecutive tournament. This opening performance offered little encouragement to back those ambitions and eventually led to a disappointing 1-1 draw with Haiti to kick off Group A play.
Alberto Quintero pounced on a scuffed clearance and thumped inside the far post early in the second half. It should have proved enough to secure the points, but Duckens Nazon ran onto a ball over the top and slotted home a late equalizer to punish Panama for its inability to firmly secure the points.
Both teams labored for much of this humid night at Toyota Stadium. There were few coherent sequences, few flourishes to pull the game out of its boggy start. Panama took a while to settle down and displayed some rather stark flaws while defending in transition, but the favorites eventually exerted control over the game.
Most of the impetus arrived through Quintero's infield runs from the left. He pinched inside to find himself on the end of knockdowns from Blas Perez and present structural issues for Haiti.
Perez and Quintero produced the best opportunity of the first half through those familiar movements and some reluctant Haitian defending. Perez saw his initial attempt from Quintero's square block, while Valentin Pimental wastefully thrashed into the side netting.
The breakthrough eventually arrived 11 minutes after the interval through some generous Haitian defending and a ruthless finish from the primary Panamanian danger man. Goreux found himself in a position to clear on the edge of his own penalty area, but he swung wildly without making any substantial contact. Quintero collected inside the area, opened his body just enough and then thrashed inside the far post.
Haiti forced a desperate clearance in the subsequent moments, but the Panamanians were in firm control after that point. It should have yielded all three points in the end, but Haiti managed to produce an equalizer four minutes from time by exploiting Panama's vulnerabilities to the quick counter.
Nazon latched onto a long ball over the top and made more of it than anyone expected. He cut inside his marker and entered the Panamanian penalty area. He then drove his angled shot straight through Jaime Penedo to give the Haitians a share of the spoils.
